27/01/2026

SPORTS TUESDAY | JAN 27, 2026

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Sinner fires up in the heat Defending champion defeats Darderi to reach AO quarters

Anisimova primed to snap win drought against Pegula AMANDA ANISIMOVA has never beaten fellow American Jessica Pegula but plans to put that right when they meet in the Australian Open quarterfi nals. The fourth seed punched her ticket to her first last-eight clash in Melbourne by sweeping past China’s unseeded Wang Xinyu 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Sixth seed Pegula booked her place by disposing of defending champion Madison Keys also in straight sets. Anisimova, 24, and Pegula, 31, have met three times before, with Pegula winning them all. “We’ve always had some great matches. I mean, she’s such a great player. I really like her game,” said Anisimova. “I’m sure it’s going to be a tough battle again. We always really go for our shots when we play against each other. I feel like we always have really long rallies.” Asked how she could finally beat her, she replied: “I know her game pretty well now. “I feel like I always have a chance against anyone. It’s (the record) not really in my head, I feel like every match is new and different. “I think the fact that I’ve never beaten her before is an extra challenge for me.” There was little to split her and Wang in the early stages, staying on serve until the American finally worked the first break point at 3-2. But Wang saved and served out to keep it level-pegging. Anisimova was slowly gaining the ascendancy and after a hold to love she made her move as Wang was serv ing to stay alive, earning a set point. But again the Chinese player snuffed out the threat to take it to a tight tiebreak, where Anisimova mus cled her way through with some sear ing groundstrokes. Neither player dropped serve in set one but there were three breaks to start the next set, with Anisimova snar ing two of them before Wang had a medical timeout. Wang seemingly gestured towards her groin when she called the physio and returned with heavy strapping on her upper right leg. Despite showing no obvious dis comfort, she couldn’t find a way to claw back into the contest and Anisimova calmly completed the job with an ace. – AFP and breaking Inglis straight away. When the Australian won her first point of the match the home crowd let out a massive roar, but they had little more to cheer about as a red-hot Swiatek got to work. She was totally dominant in racing 5-0 clear and wrapped up the set in 32 minutes, with Inglis winning just 13 points. Against the odds, three consecutive unforced errors handed Inglis a break in the first game of set two, with the 28-year-old throwing her arms the air and celebrating as if she had won the match. Her joy was short-lived with Swiatek immediately breaking back and romping home with minimum fuss. – AFP

BRIEFS Reed glides to victory in Dubai

PATRICK REED took his fourth title on the DP World Tour, winning the US$9 million (RM38m) Dubai Desert Classic by four shots on Sunday. On an overcast day, Reed started the final round on the Majlis course of Emirates Golf Club four shots clear of second-placed David Puig, and shot an even-par 72 with two birdies and two bogeys. The best score among those finishing in the top-18 was 3-under 69. Englishman Andy Sullivan fired a final-round 71 to take second with Frenchman Julien Guerrier one stroke further back in third. “It feels amazing. It shows how the off-season was, and the things we were working on were successful,“ said Reed, who finished runner-up to Rory McIlroy in 2023 and then was in the top-10 last year. “It was nice to be able to come so close in 2023, and to have an opportunity today to win the tournament at the start and then see the lead dwindle, and then to be able to play some solid golf on the back nine.” WORLD No. 1 Scottie Scheffler launched his 2026 US PGA Tour campaign with a runaway victory in the American Express at La Quinta, California. Scheffler, whose 2025 season included two major titles among six victories, piled up nine birdies in a 6-under 66 on the Stadium Course, where even a double-bogey at the 17th was barely a blip on the way to a 27-under total of 261 and a four-shot victory. Australian veteran Jason Day climbed into a share of second with a superb 8-under 64. He was joined on 265 by Americans Ryan Gerard, Matt McCarty and Andrew Putnam, Gerard posting a 7 under 65 and McCarty and Putnam each signing for a 68. Scheffler, 29, became the first player since Tiger Woods to grab his 20th US PGA Tour title before the age of 30. He’s off to his fifth straight season with at least one victory. “It means a lot,” Scheffler said. “It was a challenging week. I did a good job of staying patient and executing when I needed to.” Keys departs with head held high MADISON KEYS said she was leaving the Australian Open with her pride intact despite a straight-sets defeat by Jessica Pegula in the fourth round and promised to honour a pre-match wager by eating a cheese-smothered apple pie. Keys, who dazzled at last year’s tournament to win her first Grand Slam crown, went out fighting against her close friend and said she was happy with how she had managed expectations on her trip back to Melbourne Park. “Obviously not the way that I wanted things to end here, but still really proud of myself,” Keys told reporters following her 6-3, 6-4 defeat on Rod Laver Arena. “I think coming back, being defending champion, dealing with all of the extra pressure and nerves, I’m really proud of myself for how I handled it. It was just one of those days where I feel like Jess beat me, and I can walk away with my head held high.” Musetti vows to push Djokovic LORENZO MUSETTI vowed yesterday to push Novak Djokovic “to his maximum” after setting up an Australian Open quarterfinal against the 24 time major champion. The Italian fifth seed powered past ninth-seeded American Taylor Fritz 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 and meets a player he has faced 10 times before – and only beaten once, back in 2023. “Novak, we played many, many times and every time it’s a lesson, first of all,” he said. “It’s such an honour to share the court against him. Every time I leave the court with something and that’s something, of course, that I really think is helping me to try to win against him.” Djokovic, a 10-time winner in Melbourne, will have the benefit of an extra day’s rest. He was due to face Jakub Mensik in a night match on centre court on Monday, but the rising Czech star pulled out injured. “He didn’t have to play today, so it’s pretty sure he won’t be tired,” Musetti said of the 38-year-old. “But hopefully the rhythm that I have right now with the great matchup today will bring me luck for the next one. I feel ready to try to push him to his maximum.” Scheffler marches to season-opening win

J ANNIK SINNER swept aside concerns about his heat tolerance as he breezed to a 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(2) win over fellow Italian Luciano Darderi yesterday to reach his fourth Australian Open quarterfinals. With the temperature rising to 33°C in the evening match at Margaret Court Arena, all eyes were on the defending champion following his dramatic cramping in the third round on a scorching day against American Eliot Spizzirri. But there were no signs of trou ble yesterday as Sinner ran full

Grand Slam, finally held serve. Sinner responded by serving out to love, wrap ping up the set in 27 min utes with his 12th winner, a monstrous crosscourt forehand that kissed the sideline. Struggling to stay in

touch, Darderi completely lost his rag in the third game, and slammed his racket into the court when he slapped a loose back hand well over the baseline. He fired a forehand wide to be broken on the next point and smashed a tennis ball high into the crowd to earn a code of con duct warning. Though able to simmer down and hold serve a couple of times, Darderi double faulted twice in succession to gift the sec ond set and slumped in his chair to have a trainer work on a problematic left thigh. Darderi dug deep, though, to make a game of the third set and gradually made inroads by attacking Sinner’s forehand. Sinner faced four break points at 4-4 but saved them all and returned the pres sure on Darderi’s serve. Darderi saved two match points to delight the centre court crowd but it was a brief stay of execution as Sinner charged to a 6-2 lead in the tiebreak before clos ing it out when Darderi hit long. – Reuters

pelt from start to finish against 22nd seed Darderi, keeping court-time to a comfortable two hours and nine minutes. “It was very, very difficult, first of all. We are very good friends off the court. I got very, very tired (in the third set) so I’m very happy I closed it in three sets.” While unseeded Spizzirri gave Sinner a scare with his tenacity and firepower, Darderi made the champion’s job far easier by not turning up in the first two sets. Sinner stormed to a 5-0 lead in the first before Darderi, in his first appearance in the last 16 of a

Italy’s Jannik Sinner serves against Luciano Darderi (not pictured) during the Australian Open men’s singles match in Melbourne yesterday. – AFPPIC

Swiatek ends Inglis fairytale run Down Under

SIX-TIME major champion Iga Swiatek ended the fairytale run of qualifier Maddison Inglis with a rampant display at the Australian Open yesterday to set up a quarterfinal with fifth seed Elena Rybakina. The Polish second seed, who is chasing a maiden Melbourne title, was in a different class to the Australian with a 6-0, 6-3 demolition job on Rod Laver Arena. It brought to a close the “life-changing” run of Inglis, who was thrust into the primetime contest when Naomi Osaka withdrew from their third-round match with injury. Just being in the fourth round earned Inglis A$480,000 (RM1.3m) and crucial ranking points which she said before the match was

“like a dream”. But, as expected, her tournament went no further with Swiatek on a mission. “I felt pretty confident from the beginning,” said Swiatek, who has won four French Opens, the US Open and Wimbledon but is yet to lift the trophy in Melbourne. Last year, she surged into the last four but failed to get past eventual winner Madison Keys. “I felt like the pace of the ball was much different than in my last round, so I needed to adjust with my legs and really be precise with the footwork. “And I’m happy that I went for it.” Swiatek made a fast start, holding to love